Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans; California State Implementation Plan Revision; Bay Area Air Quality Management District

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[CA 179-0061; FRL-5929-9]

Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans; California

State Implementation Plan Revision; Bay Area Air Quality Management

District

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: EPA is finalizing the approval of revisions to the California

State Implementation Plan (SIP) proposed in the Federal Register on

April 17, 1997. The revisions concern rules from the Bay Area Air

Quality Management District (BAAQMD). This approval action will

incorporate these rules into the federally approved SIP. The intended

effect of approving these rules is to regulate emissions of oxides of

nitrogen (NOX) in accordance with the requirements of the

Clean Air Act, as amended in 1990 (CAA or the Act). The rules concern

the control of NOX emissions from boilers, steam generators,

process heaters, stationary internal combustion engines, stationary gas

turbines, and glass melting furnaces in the San Francisco Bay area.

Thus, EPA is finalizing the approval of these revisions into the

California SIP under provisions of the CAA regarding EPA actions on SIP

submittals, and SIPs for national primary and secondary ambient air

quality standards. The rules are being approved into the SIP in

accordance with the area's ozone maintenance plan for redesignation to

attainment.

DATES: This action is effective on January 14, 1998.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the rules and EPA's evaluation report for each

rule are available for public inspection at EPA's Region IX office

during normal business hours. Copies of the submitted rules are

available for inspection at the following locations:

Rulemaking Office (AIR-4), Air Division, U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency, Region IX, 75 Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, CA

94105.

Environmental Protection Agency, Air Docket (6102), 401 ``M''

Street, SW., Washington, DC 20460.

California Air Resources Board, Stationary Source Division, Rule

Evaluation Section, 2020 ``L'' Street, Sacramento, CA 95812.

Bay Area Air Quality Management District, Rule Development Section,

939 Ellis Street, San Francisco, CA 94109.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thomas C. Canaday, Rulemaking Office

(AIR-4), Air Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region IX,

75 Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, CA 94105-3901, Telephone: (415)

744-1202.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Applicability

The BAAQMD rules being approved into the California SIP include:

Regulation 9, Rule 7, Nitrogen Oxides and Carbon Monoxide from

Industrial, Institutional, and Commercial Boilers, Steam Generators,

and Process Heaters;

[[Page 65612]]

Regulation 9, Rule 8, Nitrogen Oxides and Carbon Monoxide Emissions

from Stationary Internal Combustion Engines; Regulation 9, Rule 9,

Nitrogen Oxides from Stationary Gas Turbines; and Regulation 9, Rule

12, Nitrogen Oxides from Glass Melting Furnaces.

These BAAQMD rules were adopted on September 15, 1993, January 20,

1993, September 21, 1994 and January 19, 1994, respectively. They were

submitted by the State of California on July 23, 1996. The rules were

found to be complete on January 17, 1997, pursuant to EPA's

completeness criteria that are set forth in 40 CFR part 51, appendix V

1. EPA is taking final action to approve all four rules into

the SIP.

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\1\ EPA adopted the completeness criteria on February 16, 1990

(55 FR 5830) and, pursuant to section 110(k)(1)(A) of the CAA,

revised the criteria on August 26, 1991 (56 FR 42216).

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II. Background

On April 17, 1997 in 62 FR 18730, EPA proposed to approve the

following rules into the California SIP: Regulation 9, Rule 7, Nitrogen

Oxides and Carbon Monoxide from Industrial, Institutional, and

Commercial Boilers, Steam Generators, and Process Heaters; Regulation

9, Rule 8, Nitrogen Oxides and Carbon Monoxide Emissions from

Stationary Internal Combustion Engines; Regulation 9, Rule 9, Nitrogen

Oxides from Stationary Gas Turbines; and Regulation 9, Rule 12,

Nitrogen Oxides from Glass Melting Furnaces. While the BAAQMD was no

longer required to submit NOX RACT rules pursuant to section

182(b)(2), the BAAQMD incorporated several of the previously submitted

NOX rules as contingency measures in its ozone maintenance

plan as a requirement for redesignation to attainment. Since being

redesignated to attainment of the ozone standard, the Bay Area has

recorded violations of the Federal ozone standard, therefore triggering

the contingency measures of the maintenance plan. In accordance with

the redesignation maintenance plan, and at the request of the BAAQMD,

EPA is incorporating the NOX measures into the SIP. The

BAAQMD submitted the contingency measures being acted on in this

document on July 23, 1996. This action encompasses part of the measures

identified in the plan as contingency measures. A detailed discussion

of the background for each of the above rules is provided in the

proposed rule cited above.

EPA has evaluated the above rules for consistency with the

requirements of the CAA and EPA regulations and EPA interpretation of

these requirements as expressed in the various EPA policy guidance

documents referenced in the proposed rule cited above. EPA has found

that the rules meet the applicable EPA requirements. A detailed

discussion of the rule provisions and evaluations has been provided in

the proposed rule and in the technical support document (TSD), dated

January 24, 1997, which is available at EPA's Region IX office.

III. Response to Public Comments

A 30-day public comment period was provided in 62 FR 18730. The

four rules in the present action, along with one additional rule

(BAAQMD Regulation 9, Rule 11) were the subject of a prior direct final

action. See 62 FR 18710 (April 17, 1997). EPA received adverse comments

on Regulation 9, Rule 11 only. Consequently the previous direct final

action was withdrawn. See 62 FR 32687 (June 17,1997). EPA will address

the comments received in a subsequent final action concerning

Regulation 9, Rule 11 only in the near future.

IV. EPA Action

EPA is finalizing this action to approve the above rules for

inclusion into the California SIP. EPA is approving the submittal under

section 110(k)(3) as meeting the requirements of section 110(a) and

part D of the CAA. This approval action will incorporate these rules

into the federally approved SIP. The intended effect of approving these

rules is to regulate emissions of NOX in accordance with the

requirements of the CAA.

Nothing in this action should be construed as permitting or

allowing or establishing a precedent for any future request for

revision to any State implementation plan. Each request for revision to

the State implementation plan shall be considered separately in light

of specific technical, economic, and environmental factors and in

relation to relevant statutory and regulatory requirements.

V. Administrative Requirements

A. Executive Order 12866

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has exempted this

regulatory action from E.O. 12866 review.

B. Regulatory Flexibility Act

Under the Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. 600 et seq., EPA

must prepare a regulatory flexibility analysis assessing the impact of

any proposed or final rule on small entities. 5 U.S.C. 603 and 604.

Alternatively, EPA may certify that the rule will not have a

significant impact on a substantial number of small entities. Small

entities include small businesses, small not-for-profit enterprises,

and government entities with jurisdiction over populations of less than

50,000.

SIP approvals under section 110 and subchapter I, part D of the

Clean Air Act do not create any new requirements but simply approve

requirements that the State is already imposing. Therefore, because the

Federal SIP approval does not impose any new requirements, the

Administrator certifies that it does not have a significant impact on

any small entities affected. Moreover, due to the nature of the

Federal-State relationship under the CAA, preparation of a flexibility

analysis would constitute Federal inquiry into the economic

reasonableness of State action. The Clean Air Act forbids EPA to base

its actions concerning SIPs on such grounds. Union Electric Co. v. U.S.

EPA, 427 U.S. 246, 255-66 (1976); 42 U.S.C. 7410(a)(2).

C. Unfunded Mandates

Under section 202 of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995

(``Unfunded Mandates Act''), signed into law on March 22, 1995, EPA

must prepare a budgetary impact statement to accompany any proposed or

final rule that includes a Federal mandate that may result in estimated

costs to State, local, or tribal governments in the aggregate; or to

private sector, of $100 million or more. Under section 205, EPA must

select the most cost-effective and least burdensome alternative that

achieves the objectives of the rule and is consistent with statutory

requirements. Section 203 requires EPA to establish a plan for

informing and advising any small governments that may be significantly

or uniquely impacted by the rule.

EPA has determined that the approval action promulgated does not

include a Federal mandate that may result in estimated costs of $100

million or more to either State, local, or tribal governments in the

aggregate, or to the private sector. This Federal action approves pre-

existing requirements under State or local law, and imposes no new

Federal requirements. Accordingly, no additional costs to State, local,

or tribal governments, or to the private sector, result from this

action.

D. Submission to Congress and the General Accounting Office

Under 5 U.S.C. 801(a)(1)(A) as added by the Small Business

Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996, EPA submitted a report

containing this rule and other required information to the U.S. Senate,

the U.S. House of

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Representatives and the Comptroller General of the General Accounting

Office prior to publication of the rule in today's Federal Register.

This rule is not a ``major rule'' as defined by 5 U.S.C. 804(2).

E. Petitions for Judicial Review

Under section 307(b)(1) of the Clean Air Act, petitionsfor judicial

review of this action must be filed in the United States Court of

Appeals for the appropriate circuit by February 13, 1998. Filing a

petition for reconsideration by the Administrator of this final rule

does not affect the finality of this rule for the purposes of judicial

review nor does it extend the time within which a petition for judicial

review may be filed, and shall not postpone the effectiveness of such

rule or action. This action may not be challenged later in proceedings

to enforce its requirements. (See section 307(b)(2).)

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52

Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Hydrocarbons,

Incorporation by reference, Intergovernmental relations, Nitrogen

dioxide, Ozone, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Volatile

organic compounds.

Note: Incorporation by reference of the State Implementation

Plan for the State of California was approved by the Director of the

Federal Register on July 1, 1982.

Dated: November 13, 1997.

Harry Seraydarian,

Acting Regional Administrator, Region IX.

Part 52, chapter I, title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations is

amended as follows:

PART 52--[AMENDED]

1. The authority citation for part 52 continues to read as follows:

Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.

Subpart F--California

2. Section 52.220 is amended by adding paragraph (c)(239)(i)(E) to

read as follows:

Sec. 52.220 Identification of plan.

* * * * *

(c) * * *

(239) * * *

(i) * * *

(E) Bay Area Air Quality Management District.

(1) Rule 9-7 adopted on September 15, 1993, Rule 9-8 adopted on

January 20, 1993, Rule 9-9 adopted on September 21, 1994, and Rule 9-12

adopted on January 19, 1994.

* * * * *

[FR Doc. 97-32561 Filed 12-12-97; 8:45 am]

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